Daniel A. P. Murray born.
Born in Baltimore on March 3. Murray, an African-American, was assistant
librarian of Congress, and a collector of books and pamphlets by and about black
Americans.

Publication of Uncle Tom's
Cabin. Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, published on March 20, focused
national attention on the cruelties of slavery.

1854

Lincoln University chartered.
Initially known as Ashmun Institute, Lincoln University was chartered in Oxford,
Pennsylvania, on January 1. It was one of America's earliest Negro colleges.

1856

Booker Taliaferro Washington
born. Born in Franklin County, Virginia, on April 5, Washington was the
first principal of Tuskegee Institute (1881), and was the individual most
responsible for its early development. Washington was considered the leading
African-American spokesman of his day.

1857

Supreme Court rules on the Dred
Scott case. On March 6, the Supreme Court decided that an African-American
could not be a citizen of the U.S., and thus had no rights of citizenship. The
decision sharpened the national debate over slavery.

1859

John Brown's raid. On
October 16-17, John Brown raided the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia
(today located in West Virginia). Brown's unsuccessful mission to obtain arms
for a slave insurrection stirred and divided the nation. Brown was hanged for
treason on December 2.

The last slave ship arrives.
During this year, the last ship to bring slaves to the United States, the
Clothilde, arrived in Mobile Bay, Alabama.

1860

Abraham Lincoln elected
president. Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president on November 6,
1860.

Census of 1860.

U.S. population:31,443,790

Black population:4,441,790 (14.1%)

1862

Slavery abolished in the
District of Columbia. Congress abolished slavery in the District of Columbia
-- an important step on the road for freedom for all African-Americans.

1863

The Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect January 1, legally freeing
slaves in areas of the South in rebellion.

New York City draft riots.
Anti-conscription riots started on July 13 and lasted four days, during which
hundreds of black Americans were killed or wounded.

The Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts
Volunteers. On July 18, the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers -- the
all-black unit of the Union army portrayed in the 1989 Tri-Star Pictures film Glory
-- charged Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. Sergeant William H. Carney
becomes the first African-American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor
for bravery under fire.

The New Orleans Tribune.
On October 4, the New Orleans Tribune began publication. The Tribune
was one of the first daily newspapers produced by blacks.

1865

Congress approves the
Thirteenth Amendment. Slavery would be outlawed in the United States by the
Thirteenth Amendment, which Congress approved and sent on to the states for
ratification on January 31.

The Freedmen's Bureau. On
March 3, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau to provide health care,
education, and technical assistance to emancipated slaves.

Death of Lincoln. On April
15, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; Vice President Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee
Democrat, succeeded him as president.

Ratification of Thirteenth
Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, was ratified on
December 18.

1866

Presidential meeting for black
suffrage. On February 2, a black delegation led by Frederick Douglass met
with President Andrew Johnson at the White House to advocate black suffrage. The
president expressed his opposition, and the meeting ended in controversy.

The Fourteenth Amendment.
On June 13, Congress approved the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
guaranteeing due process and equal protection under the law to all citizens. The
amendment would also grant citizenship to blacks.

Police massacre. Police in
New Orleans stormed a Republican meeting of blacks and whites on July 30,
killing more than 40 and wounding more than 150.

Founding of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Ku Klux Klan, an organization formed to intimidate blacks and other ethnic
and religious minorities, first met in Maxwell House, Memphis. The Klan was the
first of many secret terrorist organizations organized in the South for the
purpose of reestablishing white authority.

1867

Black suffrage. On January
8, overriding President Johnson's veto, Congress granted the black citizens of
the District of Columbia the right to vote.

Reconstruction begins.
Reconstruction Acts were passed by Congress on March 2. These acts called for
the enfranchisement of former slaves in the South.

1868

Fourteenth Amendment ratified.
On July 21, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, granting
citizenship to any person born or naturalized in the United States.

Thaddeus Stevens dies.
Thaddeus Stevens, Radical Republican leader in Congress and father of
Reconstruction, died on August 11.

Massacre in Louisiana. The
Opelousas Massacre occurred in Louisiana on September 28, in which an estimated
200 to 300 black Americans were killed.

Ulysses S. Grant becomes
president. Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) was elected
president on November 3.